In India, the transportation minister gave auto manufacturers a stark warning to start switching to cars that run on alternative fuels and electricity or risk a shrinking market with no recompense for switching late or failing to switch. With the government focused on reducing fossil fuel imports and pollution, he said he doesn’t mind “bulldozing” to get his way. The push towards second generation ethanol has led to 15 projects under development while his ministry is finalizing a policy to boost electric charging stations for vehicles.

In the UK, Department for Transport said 1.541 billion liters of renewable fuel have been supplied in period 9 (2016/17), which is 3% of total road and non-road mobile machinery fuel. Of the total, 79% or 1.221 billion liters of this fuel has so far been demonstrated to meet the sustainability requirements.

In Germany, UFOP reports that in the running marketing year, farmers are expected to bring in the second largest soybean harvest on record worldwide. This suggests ample supply – but reality is arguably different. Stocks are even projected to decline slightly at the end of 2017/18. Large harvest amounts lead to lower price levels and boost demand.

In Belgium, following rulings by the World Trade Organization, the European Commission will lower anti-dumping tariffs against Argentine biodiesel imports by up to 10.6% and up to 6.9% for imports from Indonesia, roughly half of the levels that had been in place in 2013. Argentine companies who cooperated with the EU’s investigation could see their tariffs around 7.3% while cooperating Indonesian companies would see tariffs of 6.5%.

In Belgium, COCERAL, FEDIOL and FEFAC say the foreseen strategy of enhancing soy and protein production in the EU policy coherence: in this sense, over 11 million tons of protein-rich meals, mainly from rapeseed, are directly related to the production of biodiesel and will disappear if the phasing out of crop-based biofuels proposed in the post-2020 revision of the Renewable Energy Directive is actually implemented.

In Malaysia, during a meeting between the trade ministers for Malaysia and Indonesia, the countries expressed deep disappointment in the allegedly unfair treatment by the EU on palm oil in favor of other vegetable oils and commodities which they say also contribute significantly to deforestation. This EU resolution as well as the unfair labeling practices by the private sector in the EU will adversely affect not only exports of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia to the EU market but also the livelihood of millions of small holders.

A new report from the UK government encourages biofuel production from waste and not crops or plants in order to reduce carbon emissions. It focuses on ensuring use of waste and not diverting crops or food production to biofuels in order to save wildlife, deforestation, pesticide and fertilizer usage,and other harmful effects that are often a result of land clearing for biofuel crop farming.

In the UK, Arriva has been awarded an extension of its rail operation concession in the Northern Netherlands and neighboring German communities into 2035 with promises to power 18 new trains with biodiesel beginning in 2020 when the current concession ends. The move is part of a long-term strategy to achieve emission-free electric transport.

In the Netherlands, poor rains across Europe’s rapeseed growing area have led to higher rapeseed oil prices in anticipation of a smaller crop, prices which have in turn supported European biodiesel prices despite current supply availability in the ARA region for nearby deliveries.

In the UK, Celtic Renewables Ltd set the wheels in motion of the first car to be fueled by a whisky residue biofuel. Biobutanol is produced from draff – the sugar-rich kernels of barley which are soaked in water to facilitate the fermentation process necessary for whisky production – and pot ale, the copper-containing yeasty liquid that is left over following distillation.